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  • AuntDaisy
    Host
    • Jun 2018
    • 1665

    Originally posted by french frank View Post
    I've been struck lately by the close similarity between dead-heading the cranesbills and mahjong.
    Can you expand on that? (Afraid I've only tried the ancient Windows version of Mahjong.)

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    • Nick Armstrong
      Host
      • Nov 2010
      • 26540

      Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post

      Makes us glad we live in the middle of a metropolis, eh? Me, anyway.
      I was thinking the same. Thirty-two years so far without even an attempted burglary, touch wood…
      "...the isle is full of noises,
      Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
      Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
      Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

      Comment

      • Nick Armstrong
        Host
        • Nov 2010
        • 26540

        Originally posted by johncorrigan View Post

        Did someone get you a Taylor Swift ticket, frank?


        (Underrated comment! )
        "...the isle is full of noises,
        Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
        Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
        Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

        Comment

        • french frank
          Administrator/Moderator
          • Feb 2007
          • 30329

          Originally posted by AuntDaisy View Post
          Can you expand on that? (Afraid I've only tried the ancient Windows version of Mahjong.)
          I can. As the cranesbill flowers fade the dead heads assume distinctive shapes. First the petals begin to wither and fall, then the sepals gradually spread out to form a characteristic star shape, finally the long characteristic 'crane's bill' seed pod forms. Examining the bushier species (like Geranium sanguineum) I systematically start cutting once the petals have faded. If I've left it for a few days the dead flowers have reached the various stages and I look for all of them - petals, stars, cranesbills. Once I think I've removed everything I cast a final look at the plant - and there is a HUGE cranesbill pointing out like a sniper's rifle. How did I fail to see it? So it's like looking for the different patterns on the tiles (circles, bamboos, winds, dragons, &c) which have to be matched.

          Playing mahjong is good practice for deadheading; and vice versa.
          It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

          Comment

          • AuntDaisy
            Host
            • Jun 2018
            • 1665

            Originally posted by french frank View Post
            I can. As the cranesbill flowers fade the dead heads assume distinctive shapes. First the petals begin to wither and fall, then the sepals gradually spread out to form a characteristic star shape, finally the long characteristic 'crane's bill' seed pod forms. Examining the bushier species (like Geranium sanguineum) I systematically start cutting once the petals have faded. If I've left it for a few days the dead flowers have reached the various stages and I look for all of them - petals, stars, cranesbills. Once I think I've removed everything I cast a final look at the plant - and there is a HUGE cranesbill pointing out like a sniper's rifle. How did I fail to see it? So it's like looking for the different patterns on the tiles (circles, bamboos, winds, dragons, &c) which have to be matched.

            Playing mahjong is good practice for deadheading; and vice versa.
            Thank you - that makes a lot of sense.

            BTW, when you found the HUGE one, was your first thought bloody cranesbill?

            Comment

            • LMcD
              Full Member
              • Sep 2017
              • 8489

              Originally posted by gradus View Post

              In the middle of the Suffolk countryside between two villages and just off the road that connects them, fairly remote and not helped by his long absences on his boat. Almost everything he now owns at the age of 86 he has bought at local auctions having been stripped of all inherited furniture, pictures etc.
              Anybody who's watched Lovejoy knows that rural Suffolk is a hot bed of crime.

              Comment

              • gradus
                Full Member
                • Nov 2010
                • 5612

                Originally posted by LMcD View Post

                Anybody who's watched Lovejoy knows that rural Suffolk is a hot bed of crime.
                Could well have been 'fenced' through Long Melford, epicentre of antique dealing when Lovejoy was made.

                Comment

                • french frank
                  Administrator/Moderator
                  • Feb 2007
                  • 30329

                  Originally posted by AuntDaisy View Post
                  BTW, when you found the HUGE one, was your first thought bloody cranesbill?
                  It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

                  Comment

                  • gradus
                    Full Member
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 5612

                    Don't get into a conversation with someone who knows what is happening in AI if you want to sleep soundly, it feels like the lock on Pandora 's box has now been picked.

                    Comment

                    • Serial_Apologist
                      Full Member
                      • Dec 2010
                      • 37707

                      Pencil vain ear

                      Pencil for writing crosses on voting slips rather than seizing power in a putsch.
                      Vain refers to how personality politics is coming to replace politics of ideas.
                      Ear should be obvious from yesterday's near assassination attempt on Trump.

                      Comment

                      • gradus
                        Full Member
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 5612

                        I wish I could find a recipe for Cucumber pickle that keeps them crunchy and tasting nice a la Vadasz.

                        Comment

                        • oddoneout
                          Full Member
                          • Nov 2015
                          • 9218

                          Originally posted by gradus View Post
                          I wish I could find a recipe for Cucumber pickle that keeps them crunchy and tasting nice a la Vadasz.
                          It's to do with prior salting I believe. Whether that's because it draws out a lot of the moisture(which also saves diluting the pickling vinegar) or because there is some process( eg enzyme inhibition) at work I don't know. Commercial pickles use calcium chloride as a "firming agent"
                          This gives some idea https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/...kled-cucumbers
                          I haven't made this sort of pickled veg - the closest I get is thinly sliced cukes in good quality vinegar, and the best version was my grandpa's home grown cucumbers and home made pear vinegar. It was meant to be pear wine from what I think was a perry pear tree in the garden, but it turned into the most delicious light fruity vinegar both times he tried. I used to drink it by the spoonful while helping to prep the dish for tea.

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                          • Serial_Apologist
                            Full Member
                            • Dec 2010
                            • 37707

                            Works at Retired.

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                            • gradus
                              Full Member
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 5612

                              Where are the insects? An almost clear windscreen having driven over 800 miles in 5 days.

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                              • smittims
                                Full Member
                                • Aug 2022
                                • 4192

                                I've seen very few wasps in the last few years . We had a wasps' nest in our shed last year. but they seemed to abandon it before August. And we've had far fewer flies in the house. Many birds rely on catching insects for their food , so the bird and insect population is declining. This has a knock-on effect in the pollination of plants. It's all part of the great change in nature. Almost incredibly, thetre are still some people who deny that humanity is to blame.

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